Misogyny, Music and the Media

In light of recent events – from Trump’s inauguration to the global Women’s March – the topic of misogyny and sexism in our society has become more relevant than ever. Over the years it’s becoming more apparent that prejudice towards women is still alive and kicking, both in the workplace and in the world of the arts.

Last week Jackmaster called out on misogyny for the first time on Twitter – following a conversation with an unnamed acquaintance, the Glaswegian reported: “things that I heard said about females in the industry tonight were fucking not acceptable” apologising for his “prior ignorance on the subject”.

Amongst the flurry of praise following his posts, there was also no shortage of backlash. It wasn’t so much the DJ’s well-meaning intentions that were in the firing line, but rather the hype generated by the media surrounding Jack Revill’s comments. Shortly after they were published, a number of publications headline features about Jackmaster’s tweets emerged – which wasn’t universally appreciated…

Various women took to social media to voice their outrage: “Jackmaster led RENEWED calls from DJs against sexism in the music industry. Why wasn’t this news when women said it?”

Another female DJ stated that she was “lolling in the irony that Jackmaster (commendably) calling out sexism gets a whole mixmag writeup as opposed to u kno… WRITING ABOUT FEMALES”

The latter comment might well be making a good point. At a time when (regrettably) sexism is still a current topic, media outlets are being expected to play a pivotal part in changing the perception of women in the 21st century. Reporting on a renowned male DJ’s comments on the matter is all well and good, but how will this address the issue itself? Instead, would it be more effective to focus a certain amount of articles/features on female DJs and music industry moguls? One thing is for sure, this isn’t the last we’ll hear of it – so we should all be responsible to kick sexism in the balls…